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+Anima

From Virtual Japan

+Anima is a manga that was created by Natsumi Mukai. This manga only had ten volumes, even though it was extremely popular. It was first released in 2001 in the popular manga magazine, Dengeki Comic Gao!. The ten volumes brought the series into 2005, when it ended. So far there is no plans to make an anime, or an original video animation (OVA) out of this series.

Synopsis

+Anima is about four children, named Nana, Husky, Senri and Cooro. These children are not normal children, but are anthropomorphic, which means that they are children who are partially animals. These children feel that they do not belong anywhere, and are on a quest to find a place that they can call home, and to find others like them. They end up finding other +Anima, and the reader gets to see flashbacks and the histories of the characters.

Characters

Cooro – Cooro is a crow. He can sprout black wings and can fly whenever he has them out. He is not the child to make decisions, and has a very hard time when he is forced to make one. The others consider him to be absent-minded, but care for him, as he is very kind of heart. He loves to eat and is very eager to find other people that resemble himself. He discovers later that he fell from the sky when he was an infant.

Senri – Senri is a bear. He can turn his right arm into a bear’s arm, complete with claws. He is also extremely strong and quiet. He does not use a weapon to fight, like the others do, but instead relies on his brute strength. He is the cooker of the group, and also carries a strange book around with him. He tucks strange things into the book, such as flowers and feathers. He says that he does so as a way to remind himself of all the places he’s been.

Nana – Nana is a bat, and is also the only girl amongst the crew. She sprouts bat wings and can fly like Cooro. Her ears also grow very large and she can hear things from far away. Her voice can go into an ultrasonic frequency, enabling her to maneuver in the dark. She also uses that ultrasonic frequency as a weapon. She is very feminine and it is discovered that she turned into a +Anima one night after her father beat her. She is immature and it is believed that she has a crush on Senri.

Husky – Husky is a fish. Whenever he jumps into the water, his legs turn into a tail and he gets gills. He is able to breathe underwater in this condition and sometimes seems to prefer living underwater. Very early in the series it is believed that he is a female, due to his reluctance to bathe and expose his new friends to his secret. He is very intelligent and it is discovered that he was sold to a circus when he was very young.